This invention relates to a device for assisting a person in climbing a tree and in particular to a portable device particularly suited for use by a woodsman or hunter.
It is common for hunters to have a need to scale trees and devices providing assist in ascent of trees have been devised including devices which utilize fasteners which physically invade the tree resulting in damage to the tree and devices having non-invasive fastening means using ropes or chains that encircle the tree to hold a laterally extending member in place for the user to step on.
Typical steps of this latter type, and to which the present invention relates, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,620,610; 4,618,028; 4,422,527; 4,674,597 and 3,598,201. While effective, all of these prior art devices require separate attachment of individual steps in order to ascend the tree to any significant height. The higher one desires to scale the tree, the more difficult it becomes to attach the individual steps to the tree since the user must balance himself or in some manner hold himself on one of the lower steps in order to fasten progressively higher steps which is not easily accomplished. Further, in most situations, only two steps are typically required to reach the required height on the tree and rather than having to attach individual steps it would be desirable to have a single device which incorporates at least two steps as an integral part of device thereby eliminating the requirement to attach separate steps.